Tokyo — Little known to computer users outside Japan today, Mitsubishi Electric Corp. is betting that within a year its name will be synonymous with network computing.
An elder statesmen of Japan’s electronics industry, Mitsubishi is now readying a bevy of Java-based products that will find their way to the U.S. market in the second half of next year, officials at the Tokyo-based company said in an interview this week.
The lead product, a prototype of which began market trials in the U.S. last week, is a slate-style pen terminal code-named MonAmi that runs on Kona, a JavaSoft Inc. software platform based on Sun Microsystems Inc.’s Java programming language, the officials said.
The diskless prototype is powered by an 50-MHz Intel DX2 processor and houses 4 megabytes of RAM and a 7.5-inch, 65,000-color DSTN screen with VGA resolution of 640 x 480 pixels.
In addition, the 850-gram unit runs on a lithium ion battery, has a single Type I PC Card slot and measures 241 x 169 by 28 millimeters.
Initial commercial versions of the unit will likely be based on an Intel-compatible chip, but the company, which produces Java processors, may use one of its Java-based chips in future designs, officials said.
The first crop of MonAmis will target vertical applications, and Mitsubishi is also working on a consumer model with a 6-inch LCD screen.
Also under development and slated for launch in roughly a year is a Java-based network computer that will be priced below US00. Officials did not reveal details on the device, but said Mitsubishi is closely watching IBM, which is aiming its recently announced Network Station at the enterprise.
In Japan, Mitsubishi expects to leverage its systems integration business in building an installed base of network computers and sees the network-dependent device will displace a large number of PCs, officials said.
Working in Mitsubishi’s favor is the still relatively low penetration of PCs among Japanese companies. Though companies here have been rapidly deploying PCs, there are still a large number of vacant desktops where a network computer would be appropriate, the Mitsubishi officials said.
In addition, Japan has a large installed based of proprietary minicomputers called “office computers” or “ofukon” that are ripe for replacement by NCs, they said.
Though Mitsubishi is planning a U.S. launch of all the Java-based machines, it may test the waters first in Japan and then follow up in the U.S., they said.
The company is already selling in Japan a predecessor to the MonAmi, called the Amity, a high-end version of which was announced this week. Powered by an Intel DX4 running at 100 MHz, the Windows 95 unit is available with up to 32 megabytes of RAM and a 340M-byte hard drive.
The unit will ship later this month priced at 348,000 yen (US,200).
Current versions of the Amity with a 75-MHz DX4 processor and 16 megabytes of RAM are selling for roughly ,000, with the price likely to drop to ,500 within a year, officials said.
